Roundups
Labor day is around the corner and in case you haven’t already planned your menu, here are a few grilling recipes I’ve been drooling over. I’m spending the holiday with one last hoorah at the beach for a wedding so I won’t be grilling, but I’m definitely not ready to pack up the grill just yet.
Did you know Labor Day is really to celebrate the economic and social contributions of workers? So if you work (and everyone does in some way) this holiday is for you!
Fun Labor Day Grill Recipes
Teriyaki Shrimp Burgers with Grilled Pineapple Salsa
Grilled Corn Pizza with Zucchini Pizza Crust
Grilled Okra
Grilled Romaine
Grilled Peach Salad
And in case you’re looking for a little leisure reading…
Instagram & the Thinspiration Ban
10 Fruit & Veggie Packed Breakfasts {you can make ahead of time}
What Science Really Says About Exercise & Sleep
10 Non-Sandwich Lunch Ideas
Can Having a Baby Give You OCD?
Do Apps Make Kids Smarter?
What are you up to this Labor Day? What’s your favorite thing to grill?!
Biking
For most people, this weekend’s holiday was Labor Day. For others, it was a different holiday. The official kickoff of the season known as college football.
Perhaps you can tell which team the husband’s side of the family pulls for…
Before heading over to the in-laws’ to watch the first game of the season, Grandma picked up the little guy and the husband and I headed out on our first bike ride together in at least a year. We’re gearing up for our two-day bike ride extravaganza for MS, and neither one of us has put nearly enough time in the saddle. This was actually the husband’s first ride of the year.
Of course he kicked my butt the whole ride, as if he’d been training all year and it was my first time on the bike. We rode a few loops at the park so we could avoid dealing with cars on the road. When we got tired {which didn’t take long} we headed back to the car. I pulled my phone {yes, the rice worked!} out of my bag and saw we rode a whopping 7.5 miles.
7 and a half.
That’s not going to cut it! The plan was to ride again this morning but it’s pouring rain.
It’s funny, I started riding my bike when my body couldn’t handle running without injury, but my body is just not made for biking. I watch people fly past me right and left, uphill and down, and I just pedal, pedal, pedal away, never catching up.
I suppose it’s just a challenge I’ll have to keep working on, because nothing worth it is ever easy, right? But I long for the day when I can head out for a long run and not have it hurt.
So how did you celebrate the long weekend? Run a race? Cookout? Lounge around? Obsess over fantasy drafts and first football games?
Roundups
I’m having trouble believing next this weekend is Labor Day weekend.
Source
Labor Day weekend. The end of white pants, white shoes, and more importantly, the symbolic end of summer. Kids are back in school and the mornings are damp with a dew. The chill in the air suggests the whisper of the impending fall, but it quickly fades and is replaced by the muggy summer heat we’ve become so familiar with the last few months.
I’m looking forward to fall like you wouldn’t believe: hoodies, scarves, boots, and lattes. Apples, pumpkins, cloves, and nutmeg. But part of me is mourning the end of summer. There were no weekends on the boat this year. No wakeboarding adventures. No wine festivals. No concerts on the lawn and no running races.
But our summer was full of plenty of joy: laughing, reaching, crawling, standing. The milestones we watched this summer were far more important than a few extra moments basking in the sun.
The cooler weather means more walks and runs with baby. Maybe some family bike rides. Hikes and hopefully some apple picking. But first we have to send off summer in style. With good food of course. 
Pull out that grill one more time and use it to add that unmistakable flavor to your burgers, buns, and veggies. Your Labor Day feast doesn’t have to mean mayo-laden potato salad and coleslaw, hot dogs and cheeseburgers. Think outside the box and keep things light and fresh this time around with some of these healthy labor day food ideas:
Black Bean and Roasted Corn Nacho Bites with Avocado Crema
Chickpea Quinoa Pineapple Burgers
Potato Rolls
Oven “Fried” Pickles with Skinny Herb Buttermilk Ranch Dip
Grilled Pesto Potatoes
Grilled Corn-on-the-Cob
Honey Balsamic Roasted Cherries
White Peach Cardamom Crumble
A unique burger, scratch made buns, fun veggie sides, and out-of-the-box desserts with end-of-summer fresh fruit. What better way to celebrate the end of a wonderful season?
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Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Bacardi via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Bacardi.
Join Bacardi in sending summer off in style tomorrow night for a chance to win $100 & $150 gift cards from Sur La Table during their chat on the ‘best of’ summer entertaining tips.
*Images belong to posts they are linked to.
Holidays
Because it would be wrong to write too much on “don’t-labor” day.
{“tailgating”}
{smoke?}
{cornhole}
Followed by the longest game of football in football history: 3 quarters of play + 4 hours 22 minutes of lightening delay. At least they won this time.
{I’m assuming you can guess which team. 
}
Fun
For awhile there, the husband and I spent Labor Day weekends doing something really, super exciting: moving.
Luckily, that tradition bit the dust when we moved into our house. Thank goodness- I do not suggest a hot summer day for moving umpteen heavy boxes up and down multiple flights of stairs. Not to mention missing out on holiday weekend fun.
This Labor Day weekend, we celebrated a friend’s 30th birthday tubing down the Dan River, in the uppermost parts of NC. {I had no idea we were driving almost all the way to the Virginia border when I signed up for this.}
Ready for the worst SoS pictures ever? Here you go:
Stopping for lunch. Might I suggest sealable plastic bags to everyone next time? The husband and I were the only ones with dry bread on our sandwiches.
The water was cold, but the air was hot- it ended up being the perfect combination for lazily floating down the river. We only got our butts caught on rocks a few times, but eventually figured out if all 10 of us linked together in an giant tube amoeba, we could get through without standing up.
Speaking of amoebas, apparently there are rumors of brain-sucking, deadly amoebas in this river…good thing my head didn’t need to go under water. 
I didn’t catch a picture, but a group of crazies scaled this rock wall and climbed into the cave. I’m not going to lie, I kind of wanted to do it too. {I didn’t, no worries. Although remind me to tell you the story one day of how I got stuck in a narrow, sideways gap in a muddy, underground cave for several hours some day.}
So our Labor Day started with a relaxing tube down the river {ok, semi-relaxing- I spent the whole time trying not to fall through the center of the tube. The coolers got top priority for the smaller tubes} and will more than likely definitely be ending with football.
PS If you want to learn to take beautiful pictures like these, just pack a reallllly old camera in a plastic baggie, then store it in a cooler full of ice. When you bring it out into 90+ degree weather, you’ll achieve the beautiful, fogged-over look.
